One of the best WW II historical and action films

Rating: 10/10 (28 May 2016)

"The Longest Day" may be the best historical film ever made about World War II in Europe. It has plenty of action. It gives a wonderful picture, from both sides, of the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. The Allies are anxious and restless as they wait in England for the word to go on June 6, 1944. The Germans are reticent and uncertain, knowing that an invasion was imminent. But when? Where? Finally, all the parts of Operation Overlord play out.
The largest armada in the history of the world set sail – more than 5,000 vessels headed across the English Channel for the coast of France. Shortly after midnight, more than 13,000 American paratroops take off for a night jump in the largest airborne assault in history to that time.
Few of the Allies met their objectives the first day. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their target sites. Americans met Germans entrenched with artillery and machine guns on cliffs high above Omaha and Utah beaches. At Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, the British, Canadian and French troops fought house to house in towns along the coast. Most of the airborne drops behind enemy lines were way off target and paratroopers were scattered across a large area. Yet, the Allies gained a foothold, confused and disrupted the enemy, and soon were able to move inland for the drive to defeat Germany.
There is nothing about the plot to give away – the story is well known. But the production of this movie– about such a major event in world history, begs a close look for its achievement.
The film is based on a book by Irish-American author Cornelius Ryan, who also wrote the screenplay. Ryan had been a war correspondent who was driven to write a book about the world-changing event. After a 1949 visit to Normandy, he began his research and interviewed more than 1,000 D-Day veterans. He finished his novel in 1959, and "The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day" was a huge best-seller.
Daryl Zanuck bought the movie rights for 20th Century Fox. More than a dozen of the senior veterans – American, British, French and German, were consultants on the film. More D-Day veterans were military advisers. The result was a movie that closely followed the real event. The film won two Oscars and had three more nominations for its technical excellence. It had a huge cast that included more than two dozen notable actors of the day – all who gave top performances.
"The Longest Day" had a $10 million budget – the record for black and white films until "Schindler's List" 30 years later. The film was one of the first to record characters of different nations in their own languages. English subtitles appear in the German and French scenes. The movie was filmed at locations in France, including parachute scenes in Ste. Marie-Eglise. The beach landing scenes were shot on the Ile de Re in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of La Rochelle, France.
As with any war film, all of the aircraft and ships couldn't be the originals, or even of the same time period. But Zanuck found Messerschmitts and Spitfires in the air forces of Spain and Belgium, and he rented them for the beach strafing scenes. Only military purists will note the different equipment elsewhere that's not accurate.
The scenes of the invasion fleet were filmed in June 1961 during maneuvers of the U.S. Sixth fleet. It was then stationed in the Mediterranean. The film crews shot around the fleet's aircraft carrier because there were no carriers in the Normandy invasion. But 22 ships of the Sixth Fleet were photographed for the movie.
The movie opened in France on Sept. 25, in America on Oct. 4, and in Great Britain on Oct. 23. When it came out, I was serving in the 1/504 airborne of the 1st Brigade, 8th Infantry Division at Mainz, Germany. The 2/505 airborne was part of our brigade. I met some of its troopers who had been in the jump scenes for the movie. Ste. Marie-Eglise, France, has an Airborne Museum dedicated to the American paratroopers who helped liberate Normandy. The movie shows a company of the 505 that was slaughtered by the Germans when it was dropped right on the town.
Quite a bit is made about John Wayne's age in playing the part of Col. Benjamin Vandervoort, and I agree. By way of comparison to airborne commanders, the ages of most senior military officers are 15 to 20 years older. Those in this film – Allied and German, were mostly in their 50s. And, the actors who played them were very close in age. But, both actors who played the American paratroop leaders were way over age – and looked it. Wayne was 54 when he played his role – twice the actual age of Vandervoort who was 27 at the time. And Robert Ryan, at 52, was 15 years older than the real Brig Gen. James Gavin who was 37 at the time. This is a point worth noting.
In the 1945 movie, "Objective Burma," Errol Flynn's character tells an older reporter that the paratroopers, including their officers, have to be young men to stand up to the rigors of airborne missions. "Do you know how old the colonel is in there? Thirty-four. You know how old our commanding general is? Thirty-seven." I appreciate and enjoy John Wayne and Robert Ryan as actors, but this is one time when the roles they played would better have been cast with someone else. Charlton Heston was supposed to have wanted the role that Wayne got. At age 39, he would have been good for either role. But, Paul Newman at 37 would have been just right as Gen. Gavin, and Steve McQueen at 32 would have been ideal as Vandervoort.